Warnings about the alleged “Martinelli virus” are still being spread more and more!
At the moment, users on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social networks keep stumbling across this warning:

Tomorrow there will be a video on WhatsApp called martinelli. Please do not open . It hacks your phone and can no longer be repaired. Also don't click on WhatsApp Gold updates. Just hit the news and is considered very serious. Please forward.
The fact check
As colleague Beate reported in April, this chain letter was first shared millions of times in Spain, Italy and Great Britain and then translated into German and circulated here.
So it's not new, because the Spanish police gave the all-clear in July 2017:
Circula por #WhatsApp ? Is this the advice you need from the “Vídeo de Martinelli”?? #Stopbulos , ✋?no lo compartas https://t.co/TtAb0aYNUE pic.twitter.com/R4aOovWAo3
— Policía Nacional (@policia) July 29, 2017
And what is WhatsApp Gold all about? The whole story about the WhatsApp Gold case is there to read here.
Result:
There is neither a virus nor a video and the updates to WhatsApp Gold are also far-fetched.
The best thing to do is to break the chain by not sharing the message but deleting it and informing the sender that it is a chain letter and that this virus does not exist.
Nevertheless, you should always remain vigilant about what you receive via WhatsApp. Even if a friend or family member sent the message, you shouldn't just click or forward everything at random.
There are enough phishing attempts , data theft and Trojans that are sent in this way - but the “Martinelli virus” is not one of them.
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